Comer y conversar: duración y secuencia en la mesa

In the present tense, to express how long something has (not) been happening, Spanish uses "desde hace + period of time": "No cenamos fuera desde hace dos semanas" (“We haven’t eaten out for two weeks”). The option "hace dos semanas (que)" requires a different sentence structure, placed at the beginning: "Hace dos semanas que no cenamos fuera."

The pattern "llevar + length of time + gerund" expresses the duration of an action that is still in progress: "Llevo una hora cocinando." The other options are not standard Spanish.

"Luego" is an adverb of sequence used between two clauses: "Comemos y luego tomamos café." "Después de" must be followed by a noun or an infinitive ("después de comer").

"Después de + infinitivo / noun" means "after (doing something / something)". Here we need "Después de comer…" (“After eating, we go for a walk.”).

With the present tense, "desde hace + period of time" means "for" / "for the last" (ongoing duration): "Cenamos a esa hora desde hace tres años." "Hace" on its own here would mean "ago" and doesn’t fit.

Use "llevar + length of time + gerund": "Llevan una hora hablando." Constructions with "desde (hace)" do not combine directly with "llevar" in this position.

"Hace + period of time + que + present / negative" expresses "it’s been … since" / "for" in this structure. The correct form is: "Hace un mes que no pido postre."

Between two clauses, we use "luego": "Primero picamos algo; luego cenamos." "Después de" must be followed by an infinitive or a noun: "después de cenar".

With a finished past action in Pretérito Indefinido, "ago" in Spanish is "hace + period of time": "Cené con Marta hace dos días." "Desde hace" is not used with Indefinido.